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IMDbPro

Sigmund Neufeld(1896-1979)

  • Producer
  • Director
  • Production Manager
IMDbProStarmeter
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In February of 1940, after the financial implosion of Ben Judell's Producers Distributing Corporation (PDC)--which blew through more than a million dollars during its mere three months in existence--a consortium of creditors headed by Sigmund Neufeld and largely backed by PDC's main creditor, Pathe Labs, reorganized as Sigmund Neufeld Productions. The company quickly announced a realistic 15 B-picture program for the remainder of the 1940-41 season (the most famous--or infamous--of these being Jean Yarbrough's The Devil Bat (1940)). There were still hundreds of theaters not owned or signed to the major Hollywood studios that would take independent features, and Neufeld was determined to fill this niche. His aim was to concentrate on fast-paced action programmers utilizing largely unknowns or, whenever fortune smiled on him, famous actors involved in a scandal that imperiled their careers (such as the orgiastic Lionel Atwill and drug-addled Bela Lugosi) who could be hired cheap. As for directors, he looked for ones on the outs with Hollywood for various reasons (such as auteur Edgar G. Ulmer, who found himself virtually blackballed in the industry after he had an affair with the wife of an executive at Universal Pictures). In November 1940 Neufeld again reorganized the company as Producers Releasing Corporation (PRC), with ex-Pathe head O. Henry Briggs as the new head of the company and ex-Chesterfield Pictures executive George R. Batcheller Jr. as the head of production. Largely backed by financing from Pathe, Neufeld's team ramped up 1941-42 production to 44 pictures (many of them directed by Sam Newfield, Neufeld's brother, who shot so many PRC pictures that he alternated using three different names so that it wouldn't appear that one director shot almost all of PRC's films). The vast majority of PRC's output is, justifiably, maligned today. The company ground out more shoddy, ultra-cheap, third-rate material in the 1940s than any other studio in "Gower Gulch." Even theater owners howled loudly about the inept production aspects (mainly poor sound and picture quality) of PRC's earliest releases. In all fairness, though, once the basic production problems were overcome there were some minor gems among the sludge: Corregidor (1943) (starring a young Otto Kruger and helmed by the prolific Lew Landers), The Enchanted Forest (1945) (shot in Cinecolor and about as close as PRC ever got to an A-picture, starring the delightful Harry Davenport and also directed by Landers), Detour (1945) (in which another troubled star, Tom Neal, drives director Ulmer's Lincoln due to budget constraints) and Bluebeard (1944) (starring John Carradine under Ulmer's direction) are cited as PRC's best works. Obviously these were notable exceptions; PRC contract star Buster Crabbe, who churned out dozens of westerns for the company, complained about PRC's emphasis on cheapness for the remainder of his life (he quit in disgust and was immediately replaced by a more compliant Lash La Rue). Directors would grouse that turning in a picture on time and under budget meant less of both on the next assignment. Neufeld and company continued to unleash B-features (and worse) through 1948, when British producer J. Arthur Rank swallowed up the company into his newly formed Eagle-Lion International.
BornMay 3, 1896
DiedMarch 21, 1979(82)
BornMay 3, 1896
DiedMarch 21, 1979(82)
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See rank
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Known for

Henry Kulky, Richard Loo, and William Lundigan in State Department: File 649 (1949)
State Department: File 649
4.7
  • Producer
  • 1949
Kathryn Adams and Hugh Beaumont in Blonde for a Day (1946)
Blonde for a Day
5.5
  • Producer
  • 1946
James Bush, Jack Cheatham, Ray Walker, and Guinn 'Big Boy' Williams in Crashing Through Danger (1936)
Crashing Through Danger
4.7
  • Producer(as Sig Neufeld)
  • 1936
James Dunn, Matty Fain, William Pawley, Frances Gifford, Harry Harvey, Forbes Murray, Gene Roth, and Duke York in Mercy Plane (1939)
Mercy Plane
5.2
  • Producer
  • 1939

Credits

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IMDbPro

Producer

  • Lon Chaney Jr. and John Hart in The Long Rifle and the Tomahawk (1964)
    The Long Rifle and the Tomahawk
  • Lon Chaney Jr. and John Hart in The Redmen and the Renegades (1957)
    The Redmen and the Renegades
  • Lon Chaney Jr. and John Hart in The Pathfinder and the Mohican (1957)
    The Pathfinder and the Mohican
  • Lon Chaney Jr. and John Hart in Hawkeye and the Last of the Mohicans (1957)
    Hawkeye and the Last of the Mohicans
  • John Bromfield, Jim Davis, Margia Dean, Coleen Gray, and Kent Taylor in Frontier Gambler (1956)
    Frontier Gambler
  • Alan Hale Jr., Bruce Bennett, Neville Brand, and Lillian Molieri in The Three Outlaws (1956)
    The Three Outlaws
  • Coleen Gray and Bill Williams in The Wild Dakotas (1956)
    The Wild Dakotas
  • James Craig, Margia Dean, and Barton MacLane in Last of the Desperados (1955)
    Last of the Desperados
  • Sins of Jezebel (1953)
    Sins of Jezebel
  • Sky High (1951)
    Sky High
  • Leave It to the Marines (1951)
    Leave It to the Marines
  • Lost Continent (1951)
    Lost Continent
  • Mask of the Dragon (1951)
    Mask of the Dragon
  • Margia Dean, Syra Marty, Sheila Ryan, and Richard Travis in Fingerprints Don't Lie (1951)
    Fingerprints Don't Lie
  • Jim Davis, Preston Foster, and Virginia Grey in Three Desperate Men (1951)
    Three Desperate Men

Director

  • Broadcasting (1932)
    Broadcasting
    • (as Sig Neufeld)
  • My Children
    • (as Sig Neufeld)
  • Skimpy
    • (as Sig Neufeld)
  • Cinnamon
    • (as Sig Neufeld)
  • The Tiffany Talking Chimps in Apeing Hollywood (1931)
    Apeing Hollywood
    • (as Sig Neufeld)
  • Chasing Around (1931)
    Chasing Around
    • (as Sig Neufeld)
  • One Punch O'Toole
    • (as Sig Neufeld)
  • Nine Nights in a Barroom
    • (as Sig Neufeld)
  • The Little Divorcee
    • (as Sig Neufeld)
  • The Little Big House (1930)
    The Little Big House
    • (as Sig Neufeld)
  • The Little Covered Wagon
    • (as Sig Neufeld)
  • The Tiffany Talking Chimps in The Blimp Mystery (1930)
    The Blimp Mystery
    • (as Sig Neufeld)

Production Manager

  • Russell Hopton and Kermit Maynard in Northern Frontier (1935)
    Northern Frontier
  • Shirley Grey, Theodore von Eltz, and Lois Wilson in Drifting Souls (1932)
    Drifting Souls
  • Shop Angel

Personal details

Edit
    • May 3, 1896
    • New York City, New York, USA
    • March 21, 1979
    • Los Angeles, California, USA

Did you know

Edit
  • Trivia
    Father of director Sigmund Neufeld Jr..
    • Prairie Rustlers
      (1945)
      $1,250

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